"24. Both Tampa and Pittsburgh are checking out 26-year-old Swiss winger Damien Brunner, who is an unrestricted free agent. It's likely Minnesota is too, as the Wild were ahead of the curve and tried to sign him last year. But, he wanted to spend one more year in Europe. "

Yeah I was tipped off to this guy a little bit ago. Impressive YouTube highlight reel, tore up the NLA this year, but I'm not sure how much better he'd fit into the NHL then say a Linus Omark. It seems like Tampa Bay is leading the charge for him anyway. At least we're looking...

An aside: If anyone ever Michigan'd by goalie, my instant reaction would be to attack him. Win or lose, there's no way I'm not taking a run at that guy immediately. I'd never let my goalie or my team get shown up like that without a fight...

I'm pretty sure there was one other guy. Each time they're pegged to be this amazing player who will have no problem acclimating to North American hockey... They're either average or busts. Let someone else take them.

Media separates reality from fantasy but doesn't tell you which percentage you're getting. They see numbers, hear anecdotal tales of grandiose conquests and then compare him to a countrymen (Pesonen = Selanne) and that's how myth begins.

As a for instance, when I was covering Fabian Brunnstrom for Dallas on HF, I did my research on him, watched some games of his, etc. There was a lot of pressure from my colleagues to put him as the #1 prospect. I said what I thought of him and stuck to my guns...he had some definite upside and the Stars had a weak prospect pool at the time, but I wasn't going to annoit him anything...he peaked at no higher than #4 on the list of just Dallas prospects...sure enough, it came into question when he scored a hat trick in his first game but just that quickly he washed out of the league. The point is, the media gets sucked in because it wants to suck you in too...the more they believe it's true, the better chance you'll read it and believe it's true...it's all a lot of hoopla...

mikey287 wrote:An aside: If anyone ever Michigan'd by goalie, my instant reaction would be to attack him. Win or lose, there's no way I'm not taking a run at that guy immediately. I'd never let my goalie or my team get shown up like that without a fight...

I don't think Shero is the kind to give a guy like this anything other than a shot at the roster like everyone else. That said, I think there are far more desperate teams out there where this guy fits better.

Not trying to dump on Brunner, but has there been anyone relatively recent who came over from Europe fairly well into their career (i.e. in their mid-to-late-20s) and did well in the NHL? By that I mean, did anyone come over and really stick in the league and play at a high level for a long while?

As mentioned above, there have been guys like Brunnstrom or Gustavsson who have at least made to the NHL and stuck around for a mediocre season or two. Earlier than that, I remember Jiri Dopita being a big deal ("best player not in the NHL" type) when he signed with the Flyers and then didn't really do anything. However, I can't off the top of my head remember anyone who actually flourished.

largegarlic wrote:Not trying to dump on Brunner, but has there been anyone relatively recent who came over from Europe fairly well into their career (i.e. in their mid-to-late-20s) and did well in the NHL? By that I mean, did anyone come over and really stick in the league and play at a high level for a long while?

As mentioned above, there have been guys like Brunnstrom or Gustavsson who have at least made to the NHL and stuck around for a mediocre season or two. Earlier than that, I remember Jiri Dopita being a big deal ("best player not in the NHL" type) when he signed with the Flyers and then didn't really do anything. However, I can't off the top of my head remember anyone who actually flourished.

I'll take two of my least favorite players in recent history and cite them as examples: Roman Cechmanek and Tim Thomas...I'd also consider Niklas Backstrom and Brian RafalskI to be in that group as well.

EDIT: Thought of another, Mark Streit.EDIT2: Not that he's that good, but Antti Niemi came over and won a Cup.

Last edited by mikey287 on Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

largegarlic wrote:Not trying to dump on Brunner, but has there been anyone relatively recent who came over from Europe fairly well into their career (i.e. in their mid-to-late-20s) and did well in the NHL? By that I mean, did anyone come over and really stick in the league and play at a high level for a long while?

As mentioned above, there have been guys like Brunnstrom or Gustavsson who have at least made to the NHL and stuck around for a mediocre season or two. Earlier than that, I remember Jiri Dopita being a big deal ("best player not in the NHL" type) when he signed with the Flyers and then didn't really do anything. However, I can't off the top of my head remember anyone who actually flourished.

I'll take two of my least favorite players in recent history and cite them as examples: Roman Cechmanek and Tim Thomas...I'd also consider Niklas Backstrom and Brian RafalskI to be in that group as well.

EDIT: Thought of another, Mark Streit.

Thanks. I knew Thomas was a late-bloomer...I just didn't know he spent the early part of his career in Europe.

mikey287 wrote:I'll take two of my least favorite players in recent history and cite them as examples: Roman Cechmanek and Tim Thomas...I'd also consider Niklas Backstrom and Brian RafalskI to be in that group as well.

Just to clarify, you are talking about the goalie, not the center? I hope!

mikey287 wrote:I'll take two of my least favorite players in recent history and cite them as examples: Roman Cechmanek and Tim Thomas...I'd also consider Niklas Backstrom and Brian RafalskI to be in that group as well.

Just to clarify, you are talking about the goalie, not the center? I hope!

I assume he would have typed nicklas if he meant nicklas.

Also, Hasek is the first player I think of when I think of players coming over in their mid 20s to perform well.